Syria's War Hits the House Of Assad

A rebel bomb tears through a cabinet meeting, killing top lieutenants and relatives of Damascus's dictator.

By

Fouad Ajami

July 18, 2012 7:21 p.m. ET

It has to come to this in Damascus: Wednesday's rebel bomb attack on a meeting of Bashar al-Assad's top lieutenants, killing at least three. The war has come to the House of Assad itself. Syria's dictatorship had rested on a dynasty, and the terror had to be visited on the dynasty. There could be no airtight security for the rulers.

Asef Shawkat, the ruler's brother-in-law and deputy chief of staff of the armed forces, was a big player in the regime. He was of a piece with this sordid lot. He had risen from poverty, an...